Close your eyes and imagine arriving at the scene of a car accident. You can see someone walking toward you, but they look like they are in a daze and their speech is incoherent. This state is what doctors call shock. Shock occurs when a person is not present, or they are unable to use their cognitive minds. According to The Kitsap Sun, researchers in the psychology field are discovering that shock is not experienced only by accident victims and individuals who face physical trauma. In fact, shock can have a profound impact on people with other forms of distress. Zimberhoff and Hartman say “shock is a physiological response to any distress that seems intolerable and in which a person feels intensely helpless.”

When a shaken accident victim attempts to resurface, it is shock. Attempting to collect oneself is not a visible experience. For example, veterans often feel the effects of trauma when they relive war scenarios. This type of relived shock is called PTSD. According to researchers, the greatest predictor when determining the severity of a soldier’s PTSD is whether they experienced trauma early in life. When trauma is experienced at a younger age, PTSD symptoms occur with greater intensity. When children experience trauma, they handle it with maturity that is dependent on age. CPTSD, or Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, occurs when non-physical trauma triggers PTSD symptoms. Early childhood trauma can occur when there is an insufficient response by relatives or other people on whom the child depends. This type of trauma commonly results in CPTSD.

These are serious issues that affect thousands of people across the country. Hypnotherapyis one way to allow an individual with PTSD or CPTSD to access their subconscious and discover the traumatic memory causing their current problems. This level of intervention is not attainable during more traditional cognitive or behavior-based therapies. When the patient triggers the memory, a hypnotist guides them through a “rewiring of the memory.” Rewiring is said to remove the negative emotions caused by the memory. Unprocessed memories can become inaccessible to the conscious mind and affect someone only when there is a trigger. When the memory is activated, the brain is overcome by an emotional and chemical response that can feel negative.

Hypnotherapy is one promising way to help trauma survivors. If successful, the method would be better than medication, which does not address the reasons for PTSD or CPTSD. Hypnotherapy is an option that can reach to the underlying cause of problems and foster a lifestyle change that can allow the patient a good life free of the past. People who are curious about hypnotherapy should explore their options.